About a month ago I saw a tweet on my Twitter time line that had originated from PETA. So I decided to check it out and what I saw on their website made me feel shocked and furious. I was amazed to see the amount of misinformation and outright lies that PETA posts on their website. No wonder so many of the “anti-Hunters” we encounter online behave the way they do, when the organizations they follow manipulate reports and twist the information in their favor. Then PETA portrays this information as the truth to their followers who blindly regurgitate these lies instead of seeking out the actual truth. I have picked out some of the myths that I have encountered from “Anti-Hunters” that are portrayed on PETA’s website and have set the record straight with FACTUAL information. If nothing else, maybe this information will help someone when they feel cornered by an animal rights bully or perhaps it will open the eyes of a few blind followers.

FACT – Quick kills are the goal of every hunter that I know. To be honest no one WANTS to intentionally injure an animal, it's incredibly heartbreaking to hunters when this happens.

BONUS FACT – PETA does not cite their sources of information but when I searched for this information what I found is the Animal Liberation Front has pulled information that is beneficial to their cause out of context from different state wildlife agencies. They are manipulating statistics from outdated information (as far back as 1963) to manufacture the results they desire. –http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Fishing–Hunting/Hunting/Hunting%20Realities.htm

MYTH – A member of the Maine BowHunters Alliance estimates that 50 percent of animals who are shot with crossbows are wounded but not killed. A study of 80 radio-collared white-tailed deer found that of the 22 deer who had been shot with “traditional archery equipment,” 11 were wounded but not recovered by hunters.

FACT –I could not find the Maine BowHunters Alliance to contact them about this statement. Crossbows are not "traditional archery equipment". PETA has fabricated this information to portray a false picture.

MYTH – Contrary to what hunters often say in defense of their cruel pastime, hunting has nothing to do with “conservation” or “population control.” In fact, animals are often specially bred and raised for hunters to kill.

PETA states that "Nature Takes Care of Its Own"

MYTH – If left unaltered by humans, the delicate balance of nature’s ecosystems ensures the survival of most species. Natural predators help maintain this balance by killing only the sickest and weakest individuals.

MYTH – Hunters, however, strive to kill the animals they would like to hang over the fireplace—usually the largest, most robust animals, who are needed to keep the gene pool strong. This “trophy hunting” often weakens the rest of the species’ population: Elephant poaching is believed to have increased the number of tuskless animals in Africa, and in Canada, hunting has caused the bighorn sheep’s horn size to fall by 25 percent in the last 40 years. Nature magazine reports that “the effect on the populations’ genetics is probably deeper.”

FUN FACT – Trophy hunting does NOT weaken the species. These hunts are well managed and the animals are carefully selected for harvesting. PETA would have you believe that we are just looking for the biggest rack to hang on a wall. But the truth is you want those "big rack" bucks out there breeding while they are still in their prime, strengthening the species' population.

MYTH – Even when unusual natural occurrences cause overpopulation, natural processes work to stabilize the group. Starvation and disease are tragic, but they are nature’s way of ensuring that healthy, strong animals survive and maintain the strength of their herd or group. After hunters kill the largest members of a population, the offspring of weak adults have difficulty finding food and gaining the strength needed to survive extreme weather; therefore, hunting can actually cause starvation rather than prevent it.

COLD HARD FACT – Deer overpopulation is caused by loss of habitat and a lack of predation. Neither of which are "unusual natural occurrences". Since the beginning of man we have hunted. PETA refuses to acknowledge that mankind is an intricate and integral part of the "natural processes."

"Deer overpopulation has its own economic impacts as well. We're talking big bucks here. (You can groan now.) Deer-vehicle accidents resulted in more than $3.8 billion of insurance claims and driver costs in the year ended June 30, according to State Farm Insurance. Such collisions resulted in about 140 human deaths, according to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Serious stuff. We're not even including the financial and social cost of Lyme disease, the expense of hauling away deer carcasses, and the cost in money and time protecting vegetation and crops from voracious deer predation." – Allan Sloan is Fortune magazine's senior editor at large, at the time of printing 11-01-2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/11/02/ST2010110200074.html?sid=ST2010110200074

MYTH – “Sport” hunting also exacerbates other problems. For example, the transfer of captive-bred deer and elk between states so that hunters can kill them is believed to have contributed to the epidemic spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal neurological illness in deer and elk that has been compared to mad cow disease. As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given state wildlife agencies millions of dollars to “manage” deer and elk populations. While the USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that CWD has no relationship to any similar diseases that affect humans or farmed animals, the slaughter of deer and elk continues.

BIG 'OL FACT – The origins of CWD remain unknown at this time. The evidence supports the theory that it may be transmitted by direct animal to animal contact. Chronic wasting disease has been compared to mad cow disease because mad cow disease is also a prion disease better known as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and the human prion disease is called Crutzkfeldt Jakob.

"Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) belongs to a family of human and animal diseases known as the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). Spongiform refers to the characteristic appearance of infected brains, which become filled with holes until they resemble sponges under a microscope. CJD is the most common of the known human TSEs. Other human TSEs include kuru, fatal familial insomnia (FFI), and Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease (GSS). Kuru was identified in people of an isolated tribe in Papua New Guinea and has now almost disappeared. FFI and GSS are extremely rare hereditary diseases, found in just a few families around the world. Other TSEs are found in specific kinds of animals. These include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which is found in cows and is often referred to as “mad cow” disease; scrapie, which affects sheep and goats; mink encephalopathy; and feline encephalopathy. Similar diseases have occurred in elk, deer, and exotic zoo animals." –http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/detail_cjd.htm

According to the CDC "Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a prion disease that affects North American cervids (hoofed ruminant mammals, with males characteristically having antlers). The known natural hosts of CWD are mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, and moose. CWD was first identified as a fatal wasting syndrome in captive mule deer in Colorado in the late 1960s and in the wild in 1981. It was recognized as a spongiform encephalopathy in 1978. To date, no strong evidence of CWD transmission to humans has been reported." –http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/cwd/

Prion Diseases

About Prion Diseases

Cattle at a trough, and a buck deer in the wild. (Courtesy Ermias Belay)

Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals.

Conclusion

PETA has demostrated on this page of their website (http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/cruel-sports/hunting/) that they are simply well funded charlatans. PETA spends no money, and I mean not one cent of those donated funds on habitat restoration, disease managment, or even consulting with a biologist for the very wildlife they claim to protect and hold so dear to their hearts.

ULTIMATE MYTH – PETA is an acronym of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

My name is Jeannett Eiden,
I was raised an Air Force brat and have had the privilege of living in many different places growing up, from Incirlik, Turkey, to Houston Texas, to North Pole, Alaska which is where my love for the outdoors began.
While in Alaska I would go hiking just to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the Alaskan wilderness and to watch the wildlife in their natural habitat. We eventually moved from Alaska to Washington State, and I continued to spend as much time as I could in the outdoors camping, hiking, and fishing.
In 1999 I met my husband, Chris, who is a very avid hunter and wildlife biologist. He introduced me to hunting, and has taught me a great deal about it From how to lay out a decoy spread when waterfowl hunting, to training and working a dog for pheasant hunting, to the types of things to look for when scouting an area for deer hunting.
I have harvested many different species of North American game and I’m always looking forward to the next one. I have hunted both modern and black powder firearm and am currently bowhunting.
We moved from Washington State to Oklahoma in late 2012. And I know I am very much enjoying learning about the new habitat and wildlife available here for hunting. This year I got my first Wild Turkey!
I am also amazed how hunter friendly it is here in Oklahoma, and enjoying every bit of it.